Heavy rains cripple Pune

Life in the city came to a standstill as heavy rains disrupted railway and road transport services yesterday. Trains delayed Following nature’s fury, a high-tension overhead cable fell between Akurdi and Chinchwad station due to which train services were stopped for about three hours. The incident happened around 7 am following which Mumbai-bound Deccan Queen and Pragati Express were halted at Pimpri and Khadaki station respectively.

Pic/Navnath Kaple

“It took us over two hours to clear the route. Due to the incident, even Sahyadri Express and Pune-Lonavala locals got delayed by two hours,” said YK Singh, spokesperson, Pune Railway Division. He added that the trains coming from Mumbai too were 2-3 hours late, however, no trains were cancelled.

Also, the MSRDC buses were running late due to traffic congestion on the Pune-Mumbai Expressway. There were long queues of vehicles at Khandala ghat. “We could not attend a family function because of the traffic jam. Considering the heavy rains, we decided to take a private vehicle, but got stuck in Khandala for over an hour. It took us almost seven hours to reach Pune from Mumbai,” said Anil Gore.

Roads blocked As the new academic year begins from today, people were returning home from vacations. Hence, heavy rush was seen at MSRDC bus stands. “Considering the fact that a lot of people were returning home after the vacations, we didn’t cancel any bus. Except for the Pune-Mumbai expressway, all the other highways were pretty clear.

The Pune-Dadar and Borivli-Shivneri buses were running late by 2-3 hours. As a Shivneri bus from Mumbai didn’t reach on time, the entire schedule was disturbed,” said RD Sawant, junior depot manager, Swargate. He added that though bus services for Konkan region were affected the most due to landslides, all the buses for Ratnagiri, Raigad were running on time.

Trees uprooted A tree uprooted in Shivaji Nagar, while another fell in Hadapsar due to heavy rains. According to officials, the site was cleared within half an hour. Also, a landslide was reported near Monkey hill at Lonavala ghat section.

Get set for the wet day According to IMD, the city received around 72 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours. There will be intermittent showers even today. BB Lohar, executive engineer of the Khadakwasala irrigation division, said, “The catchment area received good rainfall in the last two days. It will help water in the dam to rise by approximately five inches.